Steven Micklethwaite

Research Associate Professor
Centre for Exploration Targeting (CET)

Contact details

Address
Robert Street Building, Rm 210
Centre for Exploration Targeting (CET)
The University of Western Australia (M006)
35 Stirling Highway
CRAWLEY WA 6009
Australia

Phone
+618 6488 2771
Email
steven.micklethwaite@uwa.edu.au

Steven Micklethwaite was appointed as the Inaugural Hammond-Nisbet Fellow to the Centre for Exploration Targeting in late 2011, with a remit to combine the disciplines of field mapping, structural geology, and geophysics, to generate creative new outcomes for the exploration industry. Having received a PhD from Leeds University, UK, he moved to conduct research at the Research School for Earth Sciences, Australian National University (ANU), and then CODES Centre of Excellence in Ore Deposits, University of Tasmania (UTAS). He is a recipient of a Rising Stars Award (UTAS), and in his spare time he is commercialising a technique to aid blind exploration, following the award of commercialisation prizes at both ANU and UTAS. He has international and national collaborative links with the University of Massachusetts, Sydney University, CSIRO, Strathclyde University and the University of British Columbia, which have led to the publication of a number of journal articles. Steven has mapped in South Africa, Indonesia, Australia and the USA, and studied epithermal, Carlin-type and orogenic gold deposits, as well as unusual pyrophyllite deposits.

For more information on the Hammond-Nisbet Geoscience Fund please see http://www.see.uwa.edu.au/alumni/geoscience/hammond_nisbet

Key Research

My research interests centre on faulting, fracturing, shearing and fluid flow within the Earth. These include;

 (1) Faults and Fluids from Micro to Mega, and Application to Deep Earth Resource Targeting. The 4D architecture and mechanics of fault networks influence fluid flow, at all scales (microscopic to tectonic). By integrating field mapping, geophysics, geochemistry, isotopic surveys and geochronology we aim to unravel how and where faults acted as high permeability conduits. The careful application of fault scaling principles, geomechanical modelling and 3D visualisation are all promising for developing new exploration targeting tools.

(2) Fault/Vein Architecture and Growth. Fault/vein systems have emergent complexities – bends, stepovers, tip zones, associated damage and kinematic coherence. The advent of fractal theory suggests pattern exists in this complexity. Is there any scaling of elements that allow us to predict fault/vein properties in the subsurface?

(3) Geo-Drones? – Rapid, Semiautomatic, High-Resolution Mapping Using the Oktokopter and other cool stuff. Rapid advances in drone technology and photogrammetry now allow us to survey and photograph, in 3D, a kilometre of outcrop in a matter of minutes. The resolution is outstanding (mm-cms). Similarly, handspecimens can be recreated in 3D just using a digital hand-held camera. We aim to develop semiautomatic recognition of structure and lithology, with wide ranging applications encompassing minerals exploration, mine mapping, geotechnical surveys, undergraduate teaching and virtual archiving of museum specimens.

Projects are typically multi-disciplinary, and I have worked with geochronologists, petrologists, geophysicists and spatial surveyors. For industry interest in being involved in such research please contact me.